Peace and disarmament

No to the expanded Canadian military mission in Iraq and Syria

by

The Communist Party of Canada condemns the Harper government’s one-year extension of Canada’s participation in the latest imperialist war in Iraq, which will expand this military mission into neighbouring Syria without the agreement of the elected government of that sovereign country. This is a clear violation of international law and the UN Charter. As with previous military actions in Korea, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Libya, this move is yet another undeclared war.

As our Party and others predicted last fall, this mission quickly went far beyond the so-called “bombing and training role” to include direct combat operations. Clearly, this extension shows that Canada is on the way to another disastrous Afghanistan-style war of occupation, ultimately costing billions of dollars and thousands of Iraqi and Syrian lives. The federal government recently claimed that the mission had cost $122 million as of February; this understated figure of about $30 million per month does not include many related expenses, but does indicate that the cost of the expanded mission can be expected to go far higher.

Read more

Still no alternative: Scrap Bill C-51

by

Visit our stop C-51 website

Growing public pressure has compelled the Harper Conservative government to make a handful of minor amendments to Bill C-51, while rejecting all changes proposed by the opposition parties in Parliament. This tactical retreat shows that further mass opposition outside Parliament can help slow the anti-democratic and pro-war “security state” agenda of this government. The Communist Party of Canada maintains that these amendments are completely inadequate, and that Bill C-51 remains fundamentally flawed and must be scrapped.

Until now, the Conservatives had denied any need to modify C-51. Clearly they did not expect such an impressive range of public opposition, including from significant parts of the ruling class who are uncomfortable with the Conservatives’ sharp shift towards authoritarianism.

Read more

Le Parti communiste du Canada soutient l’appel pour une journée d’action pan-canadienne contre le projet de loi C-51

by

Le Parti communiste du Canada appuie pleinement les diverses mobilisations du mouvement syndical, des groupes communautaires et étudiants, ainsi que des forces démocratiques, contre projet de loi omnibus C-51. Une journée pancanadienne d’action a été proposée pour samedi 14 mars. L’initiative est promue par Lead Now, Open Media, le syndicat des employé(e)s du gouvernement de Colombie-Britannique ainsi que l’Association des libertés civiles de la Colombie-Britannique qui réclament le retrait de la loi.

Nous exhortons tous les gens d’aider à construire, à élargir et renforcer ces événements et ces actions dans les localités à travers le pays. Une opposition publique visible au projet de loi – dont l’adoption par le Parlement se fait maintenant clairement bousculer par les Conservateurs de Stephen Harper – est cruciale pour bloquer ce projet de loi anti-démocratique et empêcher son adoption.

Read more

The Canada-Israel MOU and Bill C-51

by

People’s Voice Editorial

When John Baird resigned his federal cabinet post in early February. there was considerable mock “dismay”, including the question: how will Israel be able to function with only one foreign minister?

Probably it’s just a coincidence, but his sudden departure came just two weeks after a shocking “Memorandum of Agreement” was co-signed by Baird on behalf of Canada, and the notorious Zionist hawk Avigdor Lieberman, the actual Foreign Minister of Israel. Readers are urged to look up the MOU on the internet, but a few excerpts suffice to explain its content.

Read more

On the expanding “War on terror”: unite to defend democracy, peace and equality

by

Since the terrible events of January 7 and beyond in Paris, politicians and the corporate media in the NATO countries, including Canada, are thundering that “we must all unite” in response to a so-called “declaration of war” by religious extremist groups. But under the cover of “safeguarding our freedom from terrorism”, the Harper and other Western governments are moving to escalate militarism and aggression abroad, and further erode democratic liberties – especially the right to dissent – at home.

To be clear, the Communist Party of Canada categorically condemns all terrorist acts, whether committed by individuals, movements or imperialist states. As we stated immediately after the 9/11 events, “acts of terrorism undermine the struggle for progressive change; they sideline and neutralize the mass movement, create fear and disorientation in the broad people’s fightback, and provide imperialism and reaction with a powerful pretext to intensify repression.”

Read more

À propos de l’expansion de la « guerre au terrorisme » : Unissons-nous pour défendre la démocratie, la paix et l’égalité

by

Depuis les terribles événements survenus à Paris le 7 Janvier et les jours suivants, politiciens et grands médias des pays membres de l’OTAN, dont le Canada, tonnent que «nous devons tous nous unir» en réponse à une soi-disant «déclaration de guerre» de groupes religieux extrémistes. Mais sous le couvert de «sauvegarder nos libertés contre le terrorisme», le gouvernement d’Harper et les autres gouvernements occidentaux se lancent dans une escalade de militarisme et d’agressions à l’étranger, et rognent davantage les libertés démocratiques – en particulier le droit à la dissidence – au pays.

Pour être clair, le Parti communiste du Canada condamne catégoriquement toutes les actions terroristes, qu’elles soient commises par des individus, des mouvements ou des États impérialistes. Comme nous l’avons dit immédiatement après les événements du 11 septembre 2001, «les actions terroristes sapent la lutte pour un changement progressiste; elles mettent sur la touche et neutralisent le mouvement des masses, créent la peur et désorientent la riposte populaire, et fournissent à l’impérialisme et à la réaction un puissant prétexte pour intensifier la répression».

Read more

Canada out of NATO – For an independent foreign policy of peace

by

For all of its 65 years of existence, NATO has been an aggressive, imperialist alliance. It is the largest military organization in the world, committed to the doctrines of first strike and preemptive strike. NATO interventions regularly include the use of toxic weapons containing depleted uranium or white phosphor, and the alliance has repeatedly stated that nuclear weapons are a fundamental part of its military arsenal and strategy.

NATO is also an illegal alliance under international law. Article 52 of the United Nations Charter permits regional military organizations, but only if their activities are “consistent with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations.” The most important principle of the UN is the prohibition of the use of force. Since NATO’s membership has always been beyond any commonly identifiable region, and since its primary activity has always involved the use of military force, its foundation contravenes international law.

Firmly dominated by US-imperialism, NATO is also a pillar of the European Union’s military strategy. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has aggressively expanded both its membership and its theatre of operations. Currently, there are 28 NATO member states across North America and Europe, another 22 countries in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), and a further 19 countries engaged with NATO through programs such as the Mediterranean Dialogue, the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and the Partners Across the Globe Initiative. This expansion reveals NATO’s fundamental character as the key military tool of Western imperialism.

Read more

Solidarity with the Palestinian people

by

The Communist Party of Canada’s Central Committee, meeting on the weekend of September 13-14th, repeats its condemnation of Israel’s murderous 51-day war on the people of Gaza. We call for the immediate lifting of the siege of Gaza and express our continued full support for the Palestinian people’s struggle for an independent sovereign state.

“Operation Protective Edge” was an act of genocide, killing over 2 200 Palestinians. More than 500 of the dead were children. To this date at least 450 000 people have been displaced. Direct deliberate bombing hit refugee centers, turned into rubble tens of thousands of homes, and destroyed schools, hospitals, clinics, factories, mosques, water and sewage infrastructure, and Gaza’s only power plant. Already, Gaza was effectively an open-air prison. Its population of 1.8 million people remain penned into an area about half the size of Toronto, now without electricity or even clean drinking water and running water.

Read more

Canada out of Iraq: No new imperialist intervention

by

The Communist Party of Canada opposes the renewal of imperialism’s war in Iraq, under the pretext of fighting the Islamic State (IS), and calls for Canada’s immediate and complete withdrawal from the US‑led military intervention.

The doctrine of Responsibility to Protect is being fed to the people of Canada in order to justify a new war in Iraq. In this narrative, intervention is promoted as necessary to save the people of Iraq and Syria from IS terrorism.

But this argument obscures the fact that the main and most immediate threat to peace and to the people of the Middle East is from imperialism. It was the United States, together with its allies in NATO and Israel, who spearheaded the invasion of Iraq in 1990, and who carried out the murderous sanctions through the decade of the 1990s, and who again invaded and occupied the country from 2003 on. It is the imperialist states who have waged a terrorist war against the people of Syria, in which 100,000 people have died and millions displaced. It is imperialism that has supported Israel’s occupation of Palestine, the apartheid policies against the Palestinian people, and Israel’s repeated military strikes against Gaza.

Read more

Stop Israel’s massacre of the Palestinian people!

by

Communist Party calls for immediate end to airstrikes, for Baird to resign

The Communist Party of Canada condemns the murderous bombardment of Palestine by the Israeli Air Force, and calls for this aggression to end immediately. Israel’s attacks have already killed hundreds of people and left several thousand wounded and displaced. The Communist Party reiterates its support for the right of the Palestinian people to resist occupation in their territories, and for their legitimate struggle for an independent Palestinian state.

Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, has once again taken a shameful position in this crisis, stating support for Israel’s attacks and criticizing the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights after she called for an immediate ceasefire and raised questions about the legality of Israel’s airstrikes. These comments are part of the effort by Baird and the Harper government to reduce Canada’s foreign policy to uncritical support for Israel, cloaking its aggressiveness in the language of “self-defense” and “anti-terrorism.”

Read more